Chapter 327
Even with instant-death resistance, it's not absolute immunity.
They're just hard to kill, not unkillable. So, I forcibly beheaded all the Serpent Dragon Kin using a brute-force method of overwhelming numbers.
I used the spear's butt to knock away a body trying to vanish into black ash and slammed it into a nearby Serpent Dragon Kin, causing it to stagger. Then, I drove a Heart Strike into it, luckily scoring a critical hit and an instant kill.
Now I could give chase.
"KIEIYAAAAAAAH!!!"
Genjiro let out a strange, monkey-like shriek as he slashed at Grundt.If you just looked at the scene, it seemed like a crazy guy attacking a helpless person on the roadside, but this was a battlefield.And Grundt was a bandit.
I had no intention of sympathizing with Grundt, whose face was twitching as he desperately dodged and tried to escape towards the outside of the ruins.
I ran again, closed in, and observed the combat scene until I launched my attack. I realized one thing.
When Genjiro slashed, Grundt's Future Prediction activated, allowing him to dodge.But the frequency of Serpent Dragon Kin attacking Genjiro was extremely low.
No, in this case, should I think that the 'hate' for the Serpent Dragon Kin to perform interfering actions, even though they were attacking *Grundt*, wasn't directed at Genjiro?When we raided Grundt in FBO, some kind of obstacle would always occur, causing the players or allied NPCs to let Grundt escape.
Many players had confirmed this process, so it wasn't a mistake.Moreover, since a similar thing was happening in reality, it confirmed that it wasn't just a bug in the game.
"......"
In the past, it had even caused unreasonable, shitty-game-like events like a meteorite falling and hitting a player in the face, killing them, so I checked the sky just in case.
It wouldn't be surprising if a Rainy Devil respawned and attacked here, even without a meteorite.
Fortunately, nothing like that happened, so I was relieved.
And just as I was about to take another step forward.
"Tch."
One of the Serpent Dragon Kin that Nell was fighting charged at me.As expected, a defense mechanism to let Grundt escape was clearly activating.
Something embedded in FBO's game system that also functions in this world, and that only Genjiro can nullify.I shouldn't have any clue about such a thing, but it was obvious that if I didn't figure it out now, he'd escape again and cause trouble.
Think. The common points between the game and reality.Something that players couldn't replicate, that Grundt could replicate, and that Genjiro could nullify.
While unilaterally attacking the Serpent Dragon Kin from spear range, I built a hypothesis based on my knowledge.
Hypothesis 1: Genjiro and Grundt are related.It's possible he's excluded from the effect due to blood relations.Grundt's setting was that of an unknown origin, a drifter, so the possibility he's related to someone by blood couldn't be denied.But if it's something that reacts to bloodline, and it manifests as nullification for Genjiro, not activation, I'd need to verify the reason.Hypothesis 2: Genjiro's unique constitution.Genjiro was highly rated for various reasons in the FBO era, aside from his madness.It's possible he has a blessing like Nell, something like a system-external skill, giving him a nature that makes him less susceptible to effects from those with Unique Skills.Hypothesis 3: Influence from the gods of this world, also considered in Hypothesis 2.The possibility that Grundt has a special skill granted by some god, like Jakaran's Rampaging God.Considering that Unique Skills don't consume skill slots, it makes sense, and an example exists with Barbados.Furthermore, if it doesn't appear in the status, Nell is an example.
Personally, I think the scenario is Hypothesis 2's Genjiro fiercely battling Hypothesis 3's Grundt.
So, what can we do as a crucial countermeasure?
"Ingrid! Lady Esmeralda! Claudia!! Gather up, all three of you!"
As far as I can think now, there's only one possibility.If it is indeed a god's blessing, then we can only aim to overload that system.
And currently, only these three can do that.
"Nell and I will attract the three Serpent Dragon Kin! Genjiro! Don't let Grundt escape no matter what until we're ready!!""Understood!!""No! Just leave me alone!!"
I mentally rejected Grundt's plea of 'absolutely not,' and I actively layered attacks on the Serpent Dragon Kin to draw their hate towards me.
"The two-headed ones are the Otoban-shu's responsibility!! The one-headed ones, handle them, Edelgard house!"**" " " " "Understood!!" " " " "****" " " " "Hah!!" " " " "**
The rare multi-headed Serpent Dragon Kin were gathered here, but the one-headed ones were numerically greater.I cleared the board to prevent them from interfering.
"Claudia! Activate Heavenly Fist!! Ingrid, guard Lady Esmeralda! Claudia, return to Ingrid just before Heavenly Fist ends!""Understood. Here I go.""Understood.""Lady Esmeralda, prepare to activate continuous wide-area magic!""Understood!!"
Nell and I took on the troublesome three-headed Serpent Dragon Kin, freeing up Claudia, Ingrid, and Lady Esmeralda.
Honestly, using this formation even against a boss of the same level is overkill.But I judged that nothing less would suffice.
In my field of vision, I could see Grundt, sweating profusely, a waterfall of greasy sweat.
Maybe he sensed the onslaught I was planning through Future Prediction.Grundt's movements were becoming bizarre.
"Y-you!! If you stay here, even you won't get out unscathed!!""For my Lord's sake, I would gladly use my life to the fullest!! But! My Lord is not someone who would discard my life so easily!! Don't underestimate my Lord!!!"
But seriously, Genjiro is amazing.Even if skills can ignore physical laws, he was holding back Grundt, who was moving with bug-like, Matrix-esque, disgusting movements, with just a single sword.
Faced with Genjiro's fierce assault, Grundt grew even more frantic.
"You seem quite engrossed with Genjiro, but is it alright to look away?""!?"
Claudia, her physical abilities drastically increased, plunged into the storm of swordplay.Attack power, speed, durability.As a physical attacker, no one in this space could rival Claudia with Heavenly Fist active.
Claudia's fist was swung towards Grundt, whose face paled as despair arrived.
He dodged it again with movements that defied physics.However, he only barely avoided it, taking (wind pressure, etc.) damage.
"Fuh, it's the first time I've been 'punched' by wind pressure.""Don't worry, you'll get to savor it fully from now on.""Hmm, if his movements become larger like before, there might be a chance to cut him."
Claudia's fists generated wind pressure even normally. With Heavenly Fist multiplying her physical abilities, that wind pressure now caused physical damage.
Grundt, sent flying by the wind pressure of a single straight punch, rolled on the ground.Now cornered between Claudia and Genjiro, he was pale and sweating bullets, but showed no sign of giving up.
Looking at Lady Esmeralda, her magic was taking time to activate.
"Ugh! No matter how many I cut, their numbers don't decrease!""It's fine!! At this rate, they'll run out of forces before we do!!"
Meanwhile, Nell and I whittled away at the Serpent Dragon Kin.
"Here I come.""I'm coming!""Don't come!!"
Genjiro and Claudia moved in for the kill on Grundt.A martial arts display accompanied by high-speed movement leaving afterimages.
Claudia's current attacks should be physically impossible to dodge, yet Grundt used his skill to evade every single one.
"Seiya!!"
One could say that matching Claudia's fearsome combo attacks was Genjiro's masterpiece.He thrust his blade into the gaps between Claudia's high-speed movements and the intensified shockwaves. A feat impossible without immense mental fortitude.
But even that couldn't surpass Grundt's perfect evasion skill, Future Prediction.
Grundt kept slipping through the gaps between fists and sword, avoiding this deadly assault, but his face grew increasingly pale.No matter how high his level was, he hadn't transcended the biological functions of a human.
Moving his body produced sweat, and moving his body required oxygen.
He was only forcibly prolonging his life against superior attacks with his skill; he wasn't avoiding them without expending any effort.
"You're in the way."
Occasionally, Serpent Dragon Kin appeared from strange places, but against the current Claudia, even a top-tier four-headed one was sent flying with a single backfist.
Their interference was ineffective.
In such a situation.
"Now! I shall go all out!!"
Lady Esmeralda's magic was complete.
A carpet bombing utilizing Revolver Spell and Double Spell.
"Judgment Lightning!!"
Twelve bolts of judgment lightning.Thick bolts of lightning raining down from magic circles deployed in the sky.
Claudia and Genjiro rapidly retreated from the spot.Grundt, who had been under attack until that moment, also began evasive action.Future Prediction had read this attack too.
We had accounted for him dodging it. The reason we had Lady Esmeralda deploy area-effect magic was to create an environment where, even if Serpent Dragon Kin appeared from the surroundings, they would be buried in lightning and unable to interfere.
It was pseudo, but by creating a wall of lightning, we blocked one escape route.
"Got you."
We had Genjiro and Claudia catch him as he leaped out to avoid the lightning.
The moment he jumped out to escape the lightning, the instant his evasion action wasn't fully complete.Claudia, using Lightning Step as fast as lightning itself, closed in, cutting through the lightning and taking damage.
Even though the Sunlight series and Heavenly Fant reduced the damage to almost nothing, it was an action unthinkable for a normal person.However, the lightning's effect left her body slightly numb.
In FBO, this would cause the Bad Status of being stunned and unable to act for a set time, but this was the real world.
"I absolutely will not let go."
Claudia gripped Grundt's captured arm with enough force to crush it, pouring her will into her grip strength.
"Gah!? Let go!?"
The Future Prediction skill is a perfect evasion skill.But before willpower and spirit that surpass physical limits—something not possible in the game—it finally met its match.
A red flash leaped before the desperately struggling Grundt trying to escape.
"That head is miiine!!!"
In response to Genjiro's downward slash with a demonic expression, Future Prediction activated, forcing a bizarre evasion.
He twisted his body while one arm was immobilized.It was an action that completely ignored joint mobility.
A sickening, squelching sound of the arm Claudia held being twisted off, and Grundt forcibly tore off his own forearm from the elbow to evade Genjiro's Neck Hunt.
What tenacity, what abnormality.
"Ha, gah..."
Grundt, his consciousness hazy with pain.A staggering body, the grotesquely torn stump of an arm.
His actions, choosing any means to evade, were less a skill and more akin to a curse.
I had thought Future Prediction wasn't given to players in FBO because it couldn't be implemented systemically, but that was wrong. That's not it.
This is something else, something other than a skill.
*`'Kukukuku'`*
And from Grundt's mouth, a voice that wasn't his own emerged.
*`'Ahahahahahahahahaha!!! To think, to think there would be someone trying to break the skill I bestowed in such a way.'`*
I didn't recognize this voice.Meaning, it was the voice of an unknown character I hadn't encountered before.
The owner of that voice, having taken over Grundt's pain-faded body, grinned, ignoring the blood-dripping arm, and laughed.